What to look for in a marketing consultant

As a marketing consulting firm with offices throughout Australia, mainly in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, we are continually improving the way we do business, how our employees are engaged in their roles as marketing consultants, graphic designers, journalists, social media curators or website developers, and of course, what contribution means something to the company in terms of what they do for the company culture and community.

There are many things that stand out that go beyond just passion for their roles or clients, namely:

• Ability to learn and develop through structured education programs, self-learning and others;
• Professionalism in role, towards clients and peers;
• Self-reflection and ability to inately know strengths and weaknesses;
• Knowledge of psychology to get best out of the team that works on a particular marketing consulting job, as well as understanding the dynamics of the client and being able to read between the lines;
• Investment in the client that the marketing consultant is working on. There is no point in not 'being in love' with your client and invested in their success and outcomes;
• Solutions-orientated marketing consultants are essential as the only reason a company employs a marketing consultant is to solve a problem;
• Organisational and communication skills are the bare minimum;
• Ability to tackle challenging obstacles that lay in front of you and your client with professionalism, a sound mind and a big picture mentality.

Marketing consultants can be your best investment or a big waste of money. The latter is often due to both parties not meeting expectations of each other. Ensuring that the expectations are in writing and constantly referred to is essential to delivering upon those expectations.

Attitude is important and the way they handle every situation that lies in front of them not only gives them a rating as a marketing consultant, but that of the company they represent.